Development of rural sociology in Latvia
2009
Kruzmetra, M., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology
Rural sociology is one of the fields of sociology having a rather long history if compared with the other fields. It firstly appeared in the 1920s. Several factors determined the appearance of rural sociology in the pre-war Latvia. Firstly, for hundreds of years the Latvians have been a peasant nation, which has always had a disposition to land. Secondly, at that time the majority of Latvian population lived in the countryside, and the agricultural production was the main sector of national economy – the key producer of exports with which this country took part in the world market. Thus the farmers and the countryside served as the values of economic life. Thirdly, Latvia was not an isolated territory, but it was closely connected with the rest of the world. From the present point of view it is possible to deal with several periods in the development of rural sociology in Latvia: (1) the period up to 1940; (2) the period of the 1970s -1980s; (3) the period beginning with the 1990s and continuing up to nowadays. Each of these periods has its specific character as regards the organisation and the problems due to the change of political, economic, and social conditions. The structure of scientists, their fields of activities and readiness for carrying out research in sociology change as well. Latvia University of Agriculture as one of the research centres. As regards the organising aspect, the time from the 1970s may be considered as the activity of small separate groups in Riga Polytechnic Institute, Latvia State University, and Latvia Agricultural Academy. However, Latvia Agricultural Academy gradually becomes the main research centre of rural sociology. Up to 1991 the guidance of the Rural section of the Baltic branch of the Soviet Sociologists Association was located in the Academy. During the Soviet time the researchers from Estonia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, and Russia met but during the years of regained independence – the researchers from the Baltic and Nordic countries, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland etc. In the years of independence the consolidation of people working on rural problematic (research groups and project teams) has taken place.
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